But Panic Button general manager Adam Creighton is upbeat about the Switch's future. Panic Button is one of the Switch's main port specialists, having been responsible for the transition of Rocket League and Doom, and he still thinks that there's plenty of room to grow.

"It's a really neat piece of hardware, and we're learning more all the time. We work closely with Nintendo and Nvidia, and it's an opportunity for us to do more and more with the hardware. It's interesting, it's still pretty early for the Switch as a gaming device, so I'm excited to see what happens on the hardware and the optimization front," Creighton tells USgamer.

Creighton and I talked at length about the Switch's future at E3 2018, particularly in the context of how it will fare in the next generation. I noted that third-party developers are already struggling to make some games work on the hardware without major compromises. Ys 8 and Valkyria Chronicles 4 are two games that look notably worse on the Switch.

But Creighton sees it as more of a game to game issue than a broader challenge for the Switch. "It depends on whether a game is pushing a ton of content. You have a title like Wolfenstein that is supporting so many languages, voiceover, and everything else, so there's a lot more content there," he says.

Creighton and his team have most recently ported Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, which is due out next week, and they've had to deal with issues relating to memory constraints. Perhaps the biggest challenge, though, is that Wolfenstein 2 wasn't developed with the Switch in mind.

Creighton thinks a more collaborative relationship from the start will help immensely in the future. "As people get us involved earlier in the process, we're able to help them with decisions like assets and gameplay, and things like that with Nintendo Switch in mind. That has a benefit when it comes to what might come down the road later," he says.

"It'll be interesting because who knows what's going to happen with next-generation. Does one party do an even beefier, more powerful machine? Do they look at what's happening with Nintendo and try to do that? Will they do both?" Creighton wonders. "Nintendo in previous generations has made it clear that they're not competing on horsepower. Switch is a great example of delivering that without impacting the quality of the games. And they've made some great partnerships with Bethesda and others to bring triple-A content to their platform."

Creighton also points out that the Switch itself isn't necessarily a fixed platform. The New 3DS is one recent example of Nintendo willingly splitting its install base in the name of a power boost.

"Maybe when they evolve the hardware they'll amp it up one area," Creighton speculates. "Maybe that'll be graphics or hardware, maybe they'll add to the controller set so it has additional inputs similar to other platforms. So there's a lot of innovations to be had."

It's hard to guess what will happen to the Switch once new consoles start to appear. Recent history doesn't offer a lot clues—the Wii U was pretty much a dead letter from the start, and the Wii was well behind pretty much from the start. Should the next generation commence as expected in 2020, the Switch will be in the middle of Year 4, which is a pretty tidy run for any console.

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Panic Button's port of Doom was great, and even if TNC's one wasn't as good, it's still damn impressive. I hope they are tasked with more projects in the future. These guys could probably fit Fallout 4 into the Switch if they were tasked to.

Also, am I the only one who got their text automatically turned into itallic for some reason?

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The thing with the Switch is that if Sony and Microsoft's next gen consoles do launch in 2020 or something, then by that time with the rate the Switch is selling the install base will be massive (maybe in the 50-60m range). So even if the power difference does become bigger, third parties aren't going to just completely ignore that massive user base, we're already seeing a lot of developers trying to get their games on Switch after seeing its success. Maybe it means there won't be as much multiplatform stuff, but there will probably be stuff made for the system in mind. Think stuff like Octopath Traveller. So there will still be things there.

Plus I think Nintendo probably will release a revision of the Switch at some point in the next few years like they usually do with all their handhelds which usually come with some sort of improvements in the hardware, so perhaps that will help too.

Anyways Panic Button is doing a fantastic job, they've basically become the go to studio at the moment for porting stuff to the Switch.

Switch will be getting many A and AA 3rd party games as well as a plethora of indies for years to come. Also with Nintendo's core 1st party offering ramping up into full Swing, the Switch is not hurting for content. Even during a "weak" 2018, the Switch still has a lot to offer in terms of current gen console content.

Throw in the indies and lesser known JRPs, and we have a line up that is not too shabby. I feel like we will get other high profile Switch ports as well all the way up to the PS5 launch in 2020 at least. Panic Button and potentially other Switch port devs that could pop up will see to that without a doubt.

After that, we might see a Switch Pro that will get similar treatment with software from the newer gen being exclusive to it, similar to how NEW 3DS was handled.

There is also the possibility that this is when the 3DS is phased out, Switch takes its place as the new official handheld 3.5 years into its life (which would be decent especially considering it will still be far from dead this way) and we could see a new beefer home console from Nintendo for the next generation. With gained momentum and popularity from the Switch and revitalized brand recognition, this is very feasible, especially if they manage to keep this crossplay thing going with XBox.

I feel that either of these two scenarios will be what is going to happen when the time comes, and either way, Nintendo will continue to have a bright future ahead of it.

While it is awesome to see games like Doom and Wolfenstein on Switch i kinda hope that the big 3rd parties start investing in games specifically made for the system like Octopath Traveler or Mario+Rabbids. I just can't see a game like Doom 3(6?) on PS5 being even remotely possible for Switch.

melbye said:While it is awesome to see games like Doom and Wolfenstein on Switch i kinda hope that the big 3rd parties start investing in games specifically made for the system like Octopath Traveler or Mario+Rabbids. I just can't see a game like Doom 3(6?) on PS5 being even remotely possible for Switch.

Yeah if we were to see a PS5 DOOM on a Nintendo console, one of the two scenarios I mentioned would pretty much have to happen. The Switch as it is now would at the very most see games made for it specifically when it comes to 3rd party support should it remain the only option available.

I would also be fine with this, so long as 3rd parties actually do it and utilize the full potential of the Switch. This however is questionable and only time will tell.